Semiotics, the science of signs, includes those which we see routinely in everyday life, such as symbols, road signs, and logos. Since semiotics is about ‘visual signs,’ these also include infographics, graphic design and typography.
Fathers of Structuralism
signified
Claude Lévi-Strauss (1950)
Father of Structuralism
Things that give meaning — word / image.
signifier Sign =
What is evoked in the mind — mental concept.
Anything that conveys meaning.
Structuralism is founded in semiotics— signs.
Structuralism, can be understood as three related concepts: semiotics, binary opposition and meaning. Semiotics is the distinction between langue (idealized abstraction of language) and parole (language as actually used in daily life). Where the “sign” is composed of both a “signifier,” the perceived sound or visual image as well as a “signified,” an abstract concept or idea.
Ferdinand de Saussure (1916)
Signs are logos.
The origins of structural theory can be attributed to Swiss linguist Ferdinand de Saussure in the early 1900s. It subsequently developed in the 1960s and by French anthropologists Claude Lévi-Strauss.
Structuralism is a theory of humankind, that emphasizes that elements of culture must be understood in terms of their relationship to a larger, over arching system or “structure” which are thought to be parts of a system of signs.
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Sign systems, to Saussure, were understood in terms of binary oppositions (Art-Language). In analyzing myths and texts to find basic structures, structuralists found that opposite terms modulate until they are finally resolved or reconciled by some intermediary third term. Strauss applied Saussure’s distinction between langue and parole in his search for the fundamental structures of the human mind, arguing that the structures that form the “deep grammar� of society originate in the mind and operate in us unconsciously. 1
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Communication requires the use of signs.
Language is the most universal system of signs. However, because different languages have different words to describe the same objects or concepts, there is no intrinsic reason why a specific sign is used to express a given signifier. It is thus “arbitrary.� Therefore signs gain their meaning from their relationships and contrasts with other signs (Enfant pictured below). To reduce misunderstandings in visual communication, the grammatical structures in typography was explored in the early 20th century. In 1926, Herbert Bayer at Bauhaus applied language to parole, to create a future typographic system (speech and letterform together) called Universal, which restricted the alphabet to lower-case letters only.
Letterforms in typography are considered signs.
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By laying the foundations of structural typography, later designers such as Armin Hofmann (1950s) and Vincent Sahli (1998) played with font design elements using letters to form new geometric and artistic expressions (at right).
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Graphic designers create meaning in systems.
Graphic designers used language as the chief metaphor for organizing meaning by imposing limits on the proliferation of text and art. Structuralism is about our ability to make connections and is what enables designers to take on the role of system creators. Norman Potter refers to it as the trait that “unites the very disparate standards that coexist in any one profession.” Milton Glaser calls it “a way to unify separate occurrences and create a gestalt, and experience in which this new unity provides insight.” 11
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Systems include infographics.
This directly relates to graphic design, as it is the business of making or choosing marks and arranging them on a surface to convey an idea. They are signs whose context gives them a unique meaning (such as those in the informational design images at right).
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Modernist graphic designers used grids to create order窶馬ot just visually but also to convey meaning conceptually. Designer Josef Mﾃｼller-Brockman believed working within a grid system implies "the will to cultivate objectivity instead of subjectivity."
Structuralism is a modular system
In modular systems like the grid, design was presented in as clear a way as possible, with the use of rules to organize the space and the relationships within it.
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Meaning was explored in Conceptual art.
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Structuralism gave way to questions of meaning.
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Conceptual art was a reaction to formalism where artists approached meaning in Structuralism as an analytical proposition. This criteria, as Marcel Duchamp (Fountain, at right) proved with his readymades, could consist merely of the declaration “this is a work of art.” Likewise, Kosuth's Meaning (above) employed language itself as his medium. What
resulted was a rigorously Conceptual art devoid of all morphological presence; intellectual provocation replaced perception as words displaced images and objects. By the late 1960s, many of Structuralism’s basic tenets came under attack and gave way to Post-Structuralism (Michel Foucault) and Deconstuctivism (Jacques Derrida).
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1. Art & Language, Art-Language 1, no. 1, (May 1969). 2. Charity poster for Caritas playing with letters as signs. From Armin Hofmann, Graphic Design Manual, (New York, NY, Litton Educational Publishing, Inc., 1965), Page 169. 3. Gary Larson, Semiotics, (1987). 4. Herbert Bayer, Universal typeface design, (1926). 5. V. Darchez, Nouveaux exercises de dessin à matin levée d’aprés les derniers programmes officiels. Cours élémentaire (Paris: Belin, 1883), Angle Droite Application. Cliché Bibliotèque de France, Paris. From Molly Nesbit, Their Common Sense, (UK, Black Dog Publishing Limited, 2000), Page 60. 6. Vincent Sahli, Synchrovision typeface design, (1998). 7–9. Letterform studies by Armin Hofmann From Armin Hofmann, “Graphic Design Manual,” (New York, NY, Litton Educational Publishing, Inc.,1965), Pages 162, 156, 151. 10. Deny Khoung, Build concept, (2012). 11. Josef Müller–Brockmann, Juni Festwochen Zurich poster, (1959). 12. Josef Müller–Brockmann, Musica Viva Rosbaud poster, (1959). 13. The family tree of the alphabet, showing the derivation of the world’s major alphabets. From Walter Herdeg, Graphis Diagrams, (Zurich, Switzerland, Graphis Press Corp., 1981), Page 57. 14. Chart from Nobrium General Pactice Survey showing the distribution of GP’s participation in survey in the UK. From Walter Herdeg, Graphis Diagrams, (Zurich, Switzerland, Graphis Press Corp., 1981), Page 20. 15. London Underground Tube map, designed by Henry Beck (1933). 16. The grid in three-dimensional design. From Josef Müller-Brockmann, Grid Systems, (Switzerland, Arthur Niggli Ltd., Publishers, 1985), Page 148. 17. Piet Mondrian, Composition 10, (1939–1942). 18. Grafik letterhead grid design 19. Photographic enlargement of dictionary definition of Meaning in German. Joseph Kosuth, Art as Idea as Idea (Meaning), (1968). 20. Sol LeWitt, Floor Plan #4, (1976). 21. Willem Boshoff, pages from Kykafrikaans, (1980). 22. Sol LeWitt. Detail, Wall Drawing 1164 Drawing Series 1, (1969). 23. What is Art? Marcel Duchamp, Fountain, (1917). 24. Robert Montgomery, Untitled, (2008).
Structuralism Designed and written by Sarah Honeth Typefaces: FF Meta, by Erik Spiekermann (1991) and Morgan Sans, by Feliciano Type Foundry (2003). Printing: Canon Image Runner Paper: 40# text Copyright © 2012 Sarah Honeth, Portland, Maine
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